Making sense of February's job numbers.

Summary

Tangle Podcast Summary

Episode: Making sense of February's job numbers
Date: March 11, 2026
Host: Ari Weitzman (Managing Editor, Tangle)
Guest Editor: Isaac Saul (Executive Editor, in absentia)

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Episode Overview

This episode delves into the unexpectedly negative February 2026 U.S. jobs report, exploring reactions from both the right and left, analyzing the contributing factors, and offering editorial perspectives from the Tangle team. The conversation covers the numbers themselves, their implications for the broader economy, and the political narratives forming around them as election year debates intensify. The analysis maintains Tangle's signature non-partisan approach, summarizing arguments from across the spectrum before concluding with Ari Weitzman's nuanced take and a brief dissent by Isaac Saul.

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Key Discussion Points

[01:56] Introduction and Show Flow

• Host: Ari Weitzman frames the episode as a deep dive into February’s job numbers, emphasizing Tangle’s commitment to providing diverse viewpoints and independent thinking.
• Quick reminder about Tangle’s additional channels: Instagram, Reddit, and Subtext for real-time updates.

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[03:09] Quick Hits (News Updates)

• U.S. military conducts major strikes in Iran and attacks vessels near the Strait of Hormuz ([03:09])
• Special runoff election set in Georgia after Marjorie Taylor Greene’s seat is vacated ([03:09])
• Senate legislative update on filibuster, construction bill advancing ([03:09])
• Shooting outside U.S. Consulate in Toronto, no injuries reported ([03:09])

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[04:54] The February 2026 Jobs Report: The Numbers

• Key Data:

  • The U.S. economy lost 92,000 jobs in February.
  • Unemployment rate rose from 4.3% to 4.4%.
  • Losses concentrated in healthcare and leisure/hospitality; 9 out of 14 sectors saw declines ([05:04])
  • December's jobs revised from +48,000 to -17,000; January’s gains revised downward from 130,000 to 126,000.
  • Healthcare strike (Kaiser Permanente, 31,000 workers) notably affected the data.

• Expert Quotes:

  • Mary Daly (Federal Reserve):

    “I think it just tells us that the hopes that the labor market was steadying, maybe that was too much...we also have inflation printing above target and oil prices rising.” ([05:39])

  • Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-Durmer:

    “…record breaking strikes and bad winter weather dragged down February non farm employment… the unemployment rate held steady.” ([06:01])

  • Rep. Richard E. Neal (D-MA):

    “The warning signs about this economy have been flashing for months now. The data has caught up with them and the verdict is Trump’s policies are a disaster for the economy.” ([06:18])

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[10:26] What the Right is Saying

• Mixed perspectives. Some key themes:

  • The report is not as bad as it looks—external events (weather, strikes) are significant factors.
  • Real wage growth (+3.8% YOY) is outpacing inflation, contrasting with “Biden affordability crisis.”
  • Small business tax cuts under Trump positioned for economic rebound by spring.
  • Skepticism about data reliability—recent job data is “noisy” and possibly anomalous.
  • Concerns about Trump’s tariffs (slowed job growth in manufacturing, reduced labor supply via immigration enforcement).

• Notable Quotes:

  • Alfredo Ortiz, Daily Caller:

    “February job loss is due to several factors that don’t reflect the strength of the underlying small business economy, mainly the worst winter storm since 1996 paralyzed the Northeast... the BLS did note another external factor responsible for job losses: widespread strike activity in the healthcare sector.” ([10:26])

  • Wall Street Journal Editorial Board:

    “The household survey was less gloomy... the labor market has been cooling, with healthcare and social assistance driving most gains. Job growth notably stalled after President Trump began his tariff barrage last April...” ([10:26])

  • Jim Geraghty, Washington Post:

    “Why are Americans economically gloomy? Because it feels like the pace of change has accelerated well beyond our ability to keep up... a president and his administration can’t control a lot of things about the economy, but they can usually control their own statements, decisions and policy choices.” ([10:26])

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[10:26] What the Left is Saying

• Themes:

  • Blame placed on Trump’s policies: tariffs and military actions are destabilizing key sectors and affecting oil prices.
  • Weather’s effect acknowledged, but not seen as primary driver.
  • Trump’s immigration and deportation tactics hurting the job market, especially low-wage and farm workers.
  • Disillusionment with Trump’s optimistic pronouncements on the economy (“Golden Age” rhetoric not borne out in numbers).
  • Apparent “native-born jobs boom” now criticized as a statistical mirage; suggestions data was skewed by immigration enforcement fears.

• Notable Quotes:

  • Philip Bump, Ms. Now:

    “Trump and his administration’s insistence that economic problems are fleeting, that affordability is an invented issue, or that an economic boom is imminent or underway simply don’t match Americans actual experience ... Trump’s decision to launch military strikes on Iran upended the always unsteady market for oil, rippling out into markets broadly.” ([10:26])

  • Dean Baker, Center for Economic Policy and Research:

    “We did see some evidence of labor market weakening in the February report, most obviously in the slight uptick in unemployment rate to 4.4%. ... Let’s take December to February together so we remove the impact of an unusually mild January. Average job growth over these three months was 6,000.” ([10:26])

  • Justin Fox, Bloomberg:

    “The mirage resulted from the interaction between how the BLS estimates population for employment reports and the effects of the administration’s deportation campaign ... the illusion of a native born jobs boom has vanished.” ([10:26])

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[18:00] Ari Weitzman’s Take

The Negative Case for the Economy

• February jobs report is unambiguously bad:
  • “There’s no way around it. This is a very bad jobs report.” ([18:00])
  • 13th consecutive month unemployment rate above 4%.
  • Declining consumer sentiment despite months of improvement.
• Trump’s deportation push appears to be weakening low-wage sectors (agriculture, hospitality).
• Key growth sector (healthcare) exposed as fragile after strike-induced job loss.
• Compounding threats:
  • Tariffs: Failing to produce promised manufacturing jobs; creating uncertainty.
  • War in Iran: High crude oil prices drag on transportation, manufacturing, and consumer costs.
  • “Tariffs are our weight around the ankles… oil prices are another around the neck, and there’s only so much weight we can take.” ([20:54])
• Fears that policy mix (tariffs, war, uncertainty) is discouraging investment, stalling job growth.

The Positive Case for the Economy

• Cautions against overreacting to one bad report:
  • Some losses are temporary: healthcare job loss should rebound after the strike’s end.
  • Bad weather played a role, especially in construction/manufacturing.
  • Labor market is possibly stabilizing: wage growth outpacing inflation for 2+ years.
  • Potential for AI-driven productivity gains.
  • “When you zoom out even further, you can see a job market starting to stabilize… losses are starting to flatten out.” ([22:54])

Balancing Both Sides:

• The U.S. labor market is lopsided, with vulnerabilities apparent in certain sectors.
• Tariffs and war are clear drags, but wage growth and some business investment metrics remain healthy.
• “February’s report is the starkest sign of the negative impacts of Trump’s policy so far. But beneath the most recent developments is a stable economy.” ([22:54])
• Ari refrains from recession predictions but notes the possibility if oil-driven disruptions persist.

• “Maybe a prolonged war will provide the final straw... but until that weight starts to really buckle the labor market, I’m going to continue to believe that it won’t.” ([24:56])

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[24:56] Isaac Saul’s Dissent

• Isaac (read aloud by Ari) makes the case that Trump’s policies are much more directly tied to negative trends (tariffs, war) than to positive developments (wage growth, business investment).

  • “Trump is much more directly responsible for tariffs and war than he is for wage growth, investment, or standard economic measures improving… I think this administration’s policies are much more visible in the negative case on the economy so far than they are in the positive.” ([26:39])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Ari Weitzman:

  "Tariffs are our weight around the ankles... oil prices are another around the neck, and there's only so much weight we can take." ([20:54])

• Isaac Saul’s dissent:

  “…I think this administration’s policies are much more visible in the negative case on the economy so far than they are in the positive, which feels central to this discussion.” ([26:39])

• Philip Bump (Ms. Now):

  “Trump’s decision to launch military strikes on Iran upended the always unsteady market for oil, rippling out into markets broadly.” ([10:26])

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:56] Introduction and show structure by Ari
• [03:09] Quick hits (headlines)
• [05:04] Jobs report numbers and explanations
• [10:26] Reactions from the right and the left
• [18:00] Ari Weitzman’s editorial take
• [24:56] Isaac Saul’s dissent read by Ari
• [28:02] Reader Q&A: Tangle’s writing and editorial standards
• [29:47] “Under the Radar” story: Leucovorin’s FDA approval for CDF
• [30:30] “Have a Nice Day”: Dog rescue and adoption story

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Tone and Language

• Analytical, non-partisan, explanatory
• Occasional rhetorical flourishes (“weight around the ankles/neck”)
• Conversational, in keeping with Tangle’s “talking to you” editorial style

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Conclusion

The episode provides a comprehensive, multi-perspective overview of February’s job numbers, framing the negative headline numbers within the broader context of ongoing policy debates, global events, and structural shifts in the U.S. economy. Both pessimistic and optimistic cases are extensively explored before the episode ultimately concludes—cautiously—that while economic risks are rising due to policy and global instability, a recession is not a foregone conclusion unless major disruptions intensify. The dialogue remains accessible, detailed, and balanced, in line with Tangle’s mission.

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Useful for listeners and non-listeners alike, this summary captures the essential debates, statistics, and insights discussed throughout the episode.

Transcript

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[Audrey Moorhead]

From executive producer Isaac Saul, this is Tangle.

[Ari Weitzman]

Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening and welcome to the Tangle Podcast, a place where you get views from across the political spectrum, some independent thinking, and a little bit of our take. I'm your host for today, Tangle's managing editor, Ari Weitzman. And today's edition is about the February jobs report. Got some concerning numbers and since we're talking about numbers, you get me today we're going to unpack them, do our thing across left and right, and then I'll give you my take later on in the show. But first, just wanted to give you a little bit of an update. In case you didn't know, we have a text messaging service. It's called Subtext. You can sign up using a link in the description of this episode. You can also follow us on Instagram or our Reddit page if you want to get more up to date information and other areas where you can participate in commentary about tangle. We're more than just the podcast, more than just the newsletter, and check us out across channels if you are interested. All right, with that said, I'm going to send it over to Audrey who's going to give us the introduction and left right for today's story before I'm back for my take.

[Audrey Moorhead]

Thanks, Ari and welcome everyone. Let's start with today's Quick Hits. Number one the U.S. military carried out what Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called its, quote, most intense day of strikes in Iran. US Central Command also said that it had attacked 16 Iranian vessels believed to be laying mines near the Strait of Hormuz. Separately, White House Press Secretary Carolyn Levitt said that the US Navy had not escorted an oil tanker through the strait after Energy Secretary Chris Wright said that it had in a now deleted social media post. Number two Republican candidate Clay Fuller and Democratic candidate Sean Harris will advance to a runoff in a special election to fill the seat vacated by former Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene in Georgia. Georgia President Donald Trump endorsed Fuller, a district attorney. Number three, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Senate Republicans lack the votes to abolish the filibuster or force Democrats to use a talking filibuster, requiring them to actively hold the Senate floor in debate. In an effort to pass the Save America act, the Senate voted89.9 to advance a bill that aims to increase the speed and lower the cost of new home construction. The chamber is expected to hold a final vote on passage in the coming days, after which the bill would go to the house. Number 5 Two suspects allegedly discharged firearms at the U.S. consulate in Toronto on Tuesday morning and fled the scene, authorities said. No one was injured, but the shooting is being investigated as a national security incident.

[BetterHelp Ad Narrator (continued)]

We are back with some breaking economic data and it is big.

[McDonald's Ad Narrator]

The US economy unexpectedly lost 92,000 jobs in February.

[BetterHelp Ad Narrator (continued)]

The unemployment rate inched higher to 4.4% on Friday.

[Audrey Moorhead]

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that non farm payroll employment decreased by 92,000 in February and unemployment rose from 4.3% to 4.4%. Health care, along with leisure and hospitality, accounted for the majority of losses. Though the BLS recorded losses in nine of the 14 sectors it tracks, the numbers fell short of economists expectations, raising concern about the stability of the labor market. The BLS is the agency within the Department of Labor responsible for measuring market activity, working conditions, price changes and productivity in the US Economy. Every month, the bureau compiles an employment report from a monthly survey of about 631,000 worksites selected to represent all US employers the initial numbers released by the BLS are based on partial data for the first portion of a month and revised as data from more worksites and the rest of the month becomes available. The losses in the healthcare industry, which has grown significantly in the past 12 months, come after a weeks long strike by roughly 31,000 Kaiser Permanente employees in Hawaii and California, which ended on February 24th. In Friday's report, the BLS also revised job data for December and January. December's payroll figure was lowered by 65,000 from a gain of 48,000 to a loss of 17,000. January's gains were decreased from 130,000 to 126,000. In a quote to CNBC, Mary Daly, president of the Federal Reserve bank of San Francisco, said, I think it just tells us that the hopes that the labor market was steadying, maybe that was too much. We also have inflation printing above target and oil prices rising. How long they last, we don't know. But both of our goals are risks now and we have to keep our eyes on both. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez Durmer said the economy is still strong and February's poor jobs numbers are not part of a broader trend. In a statement, Chavez Diremer wrote, while record breaking strikes and bad winter weather dragged down February non farm employment, the unemployment rate held steady. Democratic lawmakers suggested the drop in employment is due to President Trump's mishandling of the economy. Ways and Means Committee ranking member Richard E. Neal, a Democrat from Massachusetts, said, the warning signs about this economy have been flashing for months now. The data has caught up with them and the verdict is Trump's policies are a disaster for the economy. Today we'll explore reactions from the right and the left to the latest employment numbers, and then I'll pass it off to Managing editor Ari Weitzman for his take Foreign.

[Isaac Saul]

We'll be right back after this quick break.

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[Audrey Moorhead]

First up, what the Ride is saying the ride is mixed on the jobs report, with some arguing the economy isn't as bad as the report suggests. Others suggest the jobs numbers reflect bad policy, and some argue that the numbers show the public sentiment was right all along. In the Daily Caller, Alfredo Ortiz argued the American economy is much stronger than the jobs report suggests. February job loss is due to several factors that don't reflect the strength of the underlying small business economy, mainly the worst winter storm since 1996 paralyzed the Northeast, trapping people in their homes, shutting down job sites and closing retail doors generally. The Bureau of Labor Statistics highlights such large external events affecting job creation in a special section of the jobs report, but not this time. Any analysis of the February jobs report needs to include this angle. However, BLS did note another external factor responsible for job losses widespread strike activity in the healthcare sector. A decline in health care jobs is overdue and not necessarily a bad thing. However, in positive news, the jobs report shows real wages continued to rise, increasing 3.8% over the last year, more than 50% faster than inflation. That's a stark contrast to the Biden administration, when living standards declined month after month. This real wage growth is helping Americans overcome the Biden affordability crisis. Republican small business tax cuts, including restored immediate expensing, a permanent 20% Main street deduction and locked in lower rates, will set the economy up for a strong 2026 as the spring hire season begins. The Wall Street Journal editorial board responded to a Friday economic panic attack. There's no denying the February report was lousy. The question is what to make of the declines. The monthly job data has been noisy lately, and the household survey was less gloomy. That survey showed the number of workers employed part time for economic reasons declined by some 1 million over the past two months, and the unemployment rate has remained more or less steady at 4.4%. The labor market has been cooling, with healthcare and social assistance driving most gains. Job growth, notably stalled after President Trump began his tariff barrage last April, which created economic uncertainty and raised business costs. His immigration raids have reduced the supply of workers, especially in construction. Many employers say that an aging population and skills gap makes it hard to find workers in the trades. And rising productivity 2.8% in the last year may also mean employers need fewer workers and could explain why wage growth has remained strong despite a slowdown in hiring. In the Washington Post, Jim Geraghty said, look who is wrong about the economy now. In his 2024 State of the Union address, Biden boasted, our economy is literally the envy of the world. Yet Americans were unimpressed with both the aging Biden and the state of the economy during his term. Then Donald Trump took the presidential oath of office for a second time and declared, the Golden Age of America begins right now. But the net effect was no change. And overall, in the Pew Research Center's latest survey, just 28% of U.S. adults rate economic conditions as excellent or good, while 72% say they are only fair or poor Friday's jobs numbers brought evidence suggesting that the gloomy types accurately saw a weakness in the economy that the official numbers obscured. Why are Americans economically gloomy? Because it feels like the pace of change has accelerated well beyond our ability to keep up. We can live with a dynamic economy, but we also want some stability and predictability in our lives. A president and his administration can't control a lot of things about the economy, but they can usually control their own statements, decisions and policy choices. Now for what the left is saying the left broadly argues Trump's tariffs and military actions are hurting the job market. Some suggest weather could have affected the month's numbers. Others say Trump's immigration tactics haven't been beneficial for US Workers. In Ms. Now, Philip Bump argued that Trump's bragging about the economy doesn't match reality. Trump's reelection in 2024 was powered heavily by the surge in prices that followed the emergence of the COVID 19 pandemic, a surge that Trump promised to reverse. But in part because he couldn't. He hasn't. As a result, only 33% of Americans approve of his handling of the cost of living, with two thirds disapproving. Trump and his administration's insistence that economic problems are fleeting, that affordability is an invented issue, or that an economic boom is imminent or underway simply don't match Americans actual experience. Friday's jobs report showed a decline in employment rather than ongoing growth. Trump's decision to launch military strikes on Iran upended the always unsteady market for oil, rippling out into markets broadly. The extent to which presidential policy affects the economy has long been debated, but in this case, and at this moment, it's clear that Trump himself is having a robust effect on the trends he is pretending don't exist. For the center for Economic Policy and Research, Dean Baker said. Bad jobs report Blame it on the weather it wasn't that February weather was especially bad, but January's weather was likely better than a normal January. This could help to explain the better than expected jobs numbers in January. The weather was better than normal in the Northeast and Midwest in the second half of December and first half of January. This means that businesses that might ordinarily have been forced to close for a few days because of snow were able to stay open throughout the period. Let's take December to February together so we remove the impact of an unusually mild January. Average job growth over these three months was 6,000. Many of us are debating how much job growth we need in the absence of immigration to keep pace with the growth of the labor force. Most estimates put the number in the range of 30 to 60,000amonth. And we did see some evidence of labor market weakening in the February report, most obviously in the slight uptick in the unemployment rate to 4.4%. In Bloomberg, Justin Fox suggested the native born jobs boom was a mirage. An estimated 130,985,000 Native born Americans had jobs in February, according to the employment report released Friday. That is better than nothing, but a far cry from the huge gains in native born employment that the Bureau of Labor Statistics was reporting last year. I argued a couple of times last year that the native born jobs boom was a statistical mirage, so in some sense it's nice to see my suppositions confirmed. But it's also a dispiriting indication that the Trump administration's deportation campaign doesn't seem to have left anybody better off, at least not yet. The mirage resulted from the interaction between how the BLS estimates population for the purposes of its employment reports and the effects of the administration's deportation campaign. I suspect the employment numbers are still being skewed a bit by immigrants, both legal and illegal, avoiding CPS survey takers or fudging their answers out of fear of being turned into immigration authorities. But for the moment at least, the illusion of a native born jobs boom has vanished. That wraps it up for what the ride in the left are saying. So now let's head to Ari for his take.

[Ari Weitzman]

Thanks Audrey. That's it for what the left and right are saying. Which brings me to my take. There's no way around it. This is a very bad jobs report. The U.S. economy lost 92,000 jobs in February. Unemployment ticked up to 4.4% its 13th consecutive month above the 4% threshold. Figures for January and December were revised downward by a combined 69,000. Meanwhile, the latest CPI, which measures inflation, was up 2.4% over the last 12 months, even as the Fed continues to chase its elusive post pandemic 2% benchmark. And all the while, consumer sentiment, even after four straight months of improvement, remains well below where it was a year ago. Extrapolating from whole data, it's relatively easy to forecast gloom on the horizon for the US Economy. The lack of optimism from the usual pro Trump pundits following this report speaks as loudly as the almost gleeful descriptions of just how bad Trump's promised golden age has been from the president's usual critics. The negative case for the economy is relatively easy to make, and it looks like this going back to Joe Biden's presidency, economic sentiment has been low. A lot of that was driven by inflation, as well as concerning personal financial metrics like the high cost of gasoline and low rate of personal savings. After some improvement at the end of Biden's term and the beginning of Trump's, gasoline is once again high while personal savings are going back down. Trump's deportation agenda is driving out low wage employees, which we can see in the lethargic agriculture and hospitality industries. And since healthcare has been the only reliably strong sector, the economy is in a tenuous position. One large strike could and did send our numbers back and cause ripple effects that can't be absorbed elsewhere. Two more disruptions are poised to deliver a twin coup de gras to our economy. Tariffs and War in theory, if tariffs were working, investment in manufacturing would increase along with federal revenues to displace fired federal workers. That investment would take time, at least a year, to show up in jobs reports. Instead, February's numbers are the worst sign yet for that theory. 11,000 jobs were lost from transportation and warehousing, and 12,000 were lost from manufacturing. We could be getting the worst of all worlds. Manufacturing continues to pose losses. Federal employees are losing their jobs. Revenue from tariffs is flatlining and will likely have to be repaid. And yet the federal budget expands. Today's economic environment is one of disruption and uncertainty, which will discourage investors from building in America and reduce the likelihood of those manufacturing jobs coming in future reports. The jobs numbers bear that out. And there's no end to this policy of disruptive or theoretical tariffs in sight. Even though the Supreme Court recently found Trump's reciprocal tariffs to be unconstitutional, the president responded by announcing more tariffs under different authority. Many of us were bracing for the impact of tariffs to come as a traumatic thud. Instead, it's been a weight around the ankles of the economy, constantly slowing progress. Meanwhile, the war in Iran is causing the price of crude oil to spike. If the war continues and it doesn't show any sign of stopping, those prices will remain high. And remember, high crude oil prices mean much more than just high gas prices. Oil is the price of economic agency. More expensive oil means higher shipping costs and higher manufacturing costs, along with higher commercial travel. If tariffs are our weight around the ankles, then oil prices are another around the neck and there's only so much weight we can take. And that's the negative case. But if I were to make the positive case, it would look like this. We should be careful not to read too much into one report. For one thing, the decrease from January to February coincided with bad weather. When the weather's bad, we'd expect to see job site cancellations that impact exactly the industries that showed signs of struggle. Second, the job losses in healthcare may actually signal some job gains when you account for the now concluded 31,000 person strike at Kaiser Permanente. Not only were those losses temporary and they will show up as growth in the next report, but striking workers are a sign of a labor force with leverage. This temporary disruption ended as a net positive for workers in this industry, producing a deal for better salaries and better benefits. Lastly, as I wrote the last time we covered jobs data, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has quietly improved its predictive model, so we should expect these numbers not to face as much of a dreaded downward revision as past reports numbers have. And as an aside, January was revised downward by only 4,000 jobs and it's entirely possible these figures get revised upward in next month's report. When you zoom out even further, you can see a job market starting to stabilize. Not only are hourly wages and inflation moving in the right direction, but job losses are starting to flatten out. As Robert Armstrong wrote in the Financial Times, as a measure of cyclical activity in the job market, we like to look at private employment without health care and social assistance. On that front, you can see an improving trend towards less job losses in the six month rolling average, but you have to squint a bit. Furthermore, hourly wages are continuing their post pandemic rate of increase. Put differently, wage growth is outpacing inflation and it has been for the past two years. On top of that, if you are particularly bullish on artificial intelligence, you could even see productivity gains from AI in the latest jobs numbers. All in all, the labor market may be bearing some strain, but it has some legs and is getting stronger. So is the February report a signal of a strong jobs market or a weak one? Saying this doesn't take a lot of skill as a media analyst, but you can easily look at these negative and positive cases and say that both are true. The labor market is lopsided towards a few industries and tariffs and war are going to seriously drag down our economy. All things you can criticize Trump for. But wage growth remains high, business investment is healthy, and our metrics are improving. All things that you can credit Trump for. February's report is the starkest sign of the negative impacts of Trump's policy so far. But beneath the most recent developments is a stable economy. Or to quote Armstrong again, we have a pretty good understanding of why we are in a sluggish job market Covid hangover, bad trade policy, immigration control, and why the economy is growing high business investment, strong household balance sheets supporting consumption. I hesitate to make economic predictions because I am not an economist, and even if I were, that's a great way to look like a fool. But in the interest of accountability, I'll go out on a limb here and say that I don't see even this objectively bad report as a sign of an imminent recession. I've heard and I've written about the fears of a coming recession since the earliest rumors of a highly contagious virus spreading in China. Yet here we are on year six of asking when the other shoe is going to drop. Maybe a prolonged war will provide the final straw to break the camel's back. The longer the strait of Hermes is choked, the likelier that is. But until that weight starts to really buckle the labor market, I'm going to continue to believe that it won't. That's it for my take today, but our executive editor Isaac Saul has a dissent. He's traveling right now, so I'm going to read his dissent to my argument for him. Here's what Isaac had to say. I appreciate Ari's two pronged look at the optimistic and pessimistic cases for the economy after this jobs report, but I think that framework emits one crucial element Trump's culpability. Ari says he can criticize Trump for tariffs and war, but he can also credit him for wage growth, remaining high, business investment, and standard economic metrics improving. To me, Trump is much more directly responsible for tariffs and war than he is for wage growth, investment or standard economic measures improving, which are always hard to tie to a president's policies early on in a term. Even as someone who has urged patience on tariffs, I think this administration's policies are much more visible in the negative case on the economy so far than they are in the positive, which feels central to this discussion.

[Isaac Saul]

We'll be right back after this quick break.

[Adam Grant]

Hey, this is Adam Grant, host of ted's podcast Rethinking with Adam Grant. Have you heard of Bill? It's the intelligent finance platform that uses AI to help you avoid costly errors and optimize cash flow. In fact, Bill reports that over 90 of the top 100 US accounting firms trust them to manage movements and maximize money proven by over a trillion dollars in secure transactions. Eliminate the friction and start scaling with the proven choice. Visit bill.compenven to talk with an expert about automating your business finances and get a $250 gift card as a thank you. That's bill.com proven terms and conditions apply. See Offer page for details.

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[Ari Weitzman]

Okay, that's it for Isaac's dissent, so I'm going to send it back over to myself for today's reader Question. Today's question comes from Ken in Lisbon, Wisconsin. Ken asks, do you assess the understandability of the Tango newsletter? Do you aim for a certain grade level? Do you do anything special to make sure it is understandable? Generally speaking, we have two sets of standards. One for neutral reporting, like what you'll find in our story summary and under the Radar sections, and another for editorial language. As we use in a My Take and sometimes an answer to reader questions like today, we occasionally decide to avoid or choose one word or another because we want the writing to feel more accessible. But that isn't common in our editorial language. We just try to write in a way that feels as if we are talking to you. That kind of writing should feel personal, and as such, it will tend to be a little less academic and a little more informal. But it isn't our goal to write to a specific grade level per se. Our editing process includes people who have been steeped in a story and those who haven't. Some editors spend the day before publication researching, editing, and writing the newsletter. Others come to it with fresh eyes that morning. This dynamic helps us get the relevant facts and points across while also making sure that any reader, whether uninformed or expert, is won't be confused. If something doesn't make sense to us while editing, that's a sign that we should clarify. But crucially, we will never choose to leave something out because we think it might be too hard for our readers to understand. I think we and you are a little smarter than that. All right, that's it for your questions answered today, so I'm going to send it back over to Audrey for the rest of the pod.

[Audrey Moorhead]

Thanks, Ari. Now it's time for our under the Radar story. On Tuesday, the Food and Drug Administration, or fda, approved leucovorin as a treatment for cerebral folate deficiency, or cfd, a rare genetic mutation. While the agency announced in September that it was also exploring the efficacy of leucovorin for treating children and adults with autism spectrum disorder, or asd. An FDA official said on Tuesday that it had not found sufficient evidence that the medication could treat autism symptoms. CFD shares several features with autism, but the FDA's review of the leucovorin found it produced the largest effect sizes for cfd, prompting them to rule out approval for treating ASD symptoms. CNBC has the story and you can find it in the show notes. And lastly, it's time for our have a nice day story. In February, a woman left her dog tied to a ticket encounter at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas, Nevada while she allegedly tried to catch a flight. The woman was later arrested, but the dog was placed into foster care and left unclaimed after a 10 day hold period. Fortunately, police officer Skeeter Black, who responded to the first call about the dog being tied up at the airport, stepped in to adopt the pup, now nicknamed JetBlue. In a social media post, the police department said what began as a heartbreaking act of abandonment has turned into a powerful example of compassion, teamwork and community partnership. NBC News has the story and you can find it in the show Notes.

[Ari Weitzman]

All right everybody, that's it for today's episode. As always, if you'd like to support our work, you can head over to retangle.com and sign up for a membership. You can also go over to Subtext using the link in our show notes to sign up for more text messages from us with updates and polls and a bunch of other things that only subscribers to the Subtext messaging platform will get. Also, if you want more, consider following us on Instagram, checking us out on YouTube, and logging into our community on Reddit, where a lot of people are getting together now to discuss podcasts as well as daily editions. That's it for today. We'll be right back tomorrow. Until then, take care of yourselves. Have a good one. We'll talk to you soon. Peace.

[Isaac Saul]

Our Executive editor and founder is me, Isaac Saul, and our Executive producer is Jason John Wall. Today's episode was edited and engineered by Dewey Thomas. Our editorial staff is led by Managing Editor Ari Weitzman, with Senior Editor Will K. Back and Associate Editors Audrey Moorhead, Lindsey Knuth and Bailey Saul. Music for the podcast was produced by Diet75. To learn more about Tangle and to sign up for a membership, please visit our [e-mail].

[Adam Grant]

Hey, this is Adam Grant, host of ted's podcast Rethinking with Adam Grant. Let me share with you. Why Smart finance Leaders Turn to Bill they know that clarity isn't just helpful, it's strategic. As the intelligent finance platform, Bill uses AI to automate the busy work for nearly half a million businesses so they can focus on intentional growth, eliminate the friction and start scaling with the proven choice. Visit bill.compenven to talk with an expert about automating your business finances and get a $250 gift card as a thank you. That's bill.com proven. Terms and conditions apply. See Offer page for details.

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